Ohio man convicted of extorting sexual images from teenagers

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An Ohio man will spend more than two decades in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually exploiting minors by pretending to be a 15-year-old girl on social media.

Clay Thomas Wolfe, 28, of Junction City, was sentenced Thursday to 276 months, or 23 years, in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges in April.

In total, Wolf was in possession of approximately 850 images and 570 videos depicting child pornography, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

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Court records state that Wolfe pretended to be a teenage girl named Ally, who lives in Ohio, on Snapchat. Although investigators said they found images featuring children as young as 10 or 11, Wolfe primarily used the Ally identity to solicit sexually explicit photos and videos from young men. Wolfe also threatened to send boys’ sexually explicit material to their families and friends as a means of extortion.

The U.S. attorney said his office has identified nearly 100 victims in multiple states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. According to court records, Wolfe solicited more than 300 teenagers for sexually explicit images and videos.

As part of the scheme, Wolfe would send his victims images and videos of teenage girls he found on adult pornography sites and use the images to seduce his victims, according to court documents. In return, his victims would send sexually explicit images and videos.

The case first surfaced in Pennsylvania in April 2022, when law enforcement learned that a sixth-grader had shared a nude photo of a classmate she had received from Wolfe, pretending to be Ally.

Wolfe was arrested and charged in June 2023.

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